This invention relates to data storage drives and more particularly, to a removable cartridge for magnetic disk drives.
Magnetic disk drives which write and read digital data from flexible magnetic disks have been extensively used. "Floppy disk drives" have been extensively used for small, so-called microcomputer systems, for word-processing applications and the like. The flexible disk cartridge includes a relatively thin, flexible jacket which is inserted into the floppy disk drive.
Rigid disk drives, such as the IBM 3350, usually have a fixed rigid magnetic media. The magnetic heads do not contact the magnetic surface, but ride on a thin film of air. Because of this, and other features, these disk drives are capable of extremely precise and high speed operation. This type of disk drive is commonly referred to as a "Winchester" drive. Rigid disks enclosed in a rigid, removable cartridge, or shell have also been used. U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,452-Thompson, et al is an example of such a drive.
"Bernoulli" disk drives having performance characteristics similar to that of Winchester drives, but with removable cartridges, have been developed. A flexible magnetic disk is enclosed in a rigid box which is normally completely closed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,748-Bauck, et al and related patents to the common assignee show such drives using Bernoulli stabilized flexible disks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,173-Jones et al and related patents to a common assignee, show improvements which relate to so-called "half height" drives.
The cartridges for these drives have a door which closes the cartridge when it is removed from the drive. This prevents debris from contaminating the magnetic recording medium when the cartridge is not in the drive. When the cartridge is inserted into the drive, this door slides to an open position to provide access for the magnetic recording heads to engage the recording medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,558-Griffith, et al shows a drive for a rigid cartridge in which the cartridge door slides to an open position inside of the cartridge. In the aforementioned Thompson, et al patent, the door also slides to an open position inside the cartridge. In these drives, and in the cartridges used therein, space is at a premium. The cartridge has a narrow width into which the door must fit. This width is constrained by the relative size of the disk drive form factor. Also, the size of the disk relative to size of the casing severely limits the amount of room which is available inside the cartridge. It is desirable to have the disk occupy as much space within the cartridge as possible. This provides the maximum data storage capacity for a given drive form factor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cartridge with a sliding door which optimizes the amount of space available for the recording medium for a given form factor drive.